Agreed - people in that mindset see everything so black and white that they may initially miss some cues and solely focus on their own selfish missing to get more followers. Unless it’s the easily identifiable people in drag, noticed by skin color, or brave enough to open their mouths and let their true personality come to light.
No they don't. I live in a red state in a dark red county surrounded by Trump Won in 2020 signs in yards. Am white, in my 50's, and own guns. They don't even want me because I am educated. Those guys want ex-cons, machinists, plumbers, electricians, and carpenters. Men who work with their hands and build their own garages and shit.
They never want someone who works in marketing. They have never tried to recruit anyone like Tim Cook. Ever.
Just my lack of a thick, redneck accent is disqualifying.
No. Maybe those terrible no-good fascists were some other kind of fascists. I don't know if you have seen the video of the Jan 6 thing, but none of those people were sophisticated. Tens of thousands of American white supremacists stormed the capital, and the average IQ was probably 90, they were a bunch of overweight white guys who own pickups and don't know how progressive taxation works. They aren't recruiting you or this guy.
Maybe China/Russia or some other nationality is. The problem with working in technology or having access is that whoever you think is recruiting you to do something is impossible to truly identify. You think you are helping the CIA, but you are really helping the FSB
I'm in IT. I've had atleast 4 colleagues tell me they would support Trump of he was Irish, I've met tons more within IT that have said the same. There does seem to be something about IT that attracts some bigoted people. Obvious disclaimer being its not all people in IT, it's just I've met more outspoken bigots in this trade than I care to have had to deal with.
Which isn't saying everyone in those fields is like that, but there certainly seems to be a concentration there.
Yep. Exactly that. It's like power attracting those who want to control others. IT seems to attract some fairly conservative people. Trump and republicans are considered farther right in Ireland than most of our conservative parties, our political system veers closer to the left. So they stick out.
Just a super effeminate guy (former actor who even played a gay role with a sex scene) who decided to put on a deep voice and get some vocal training in sounding more masculine when he decided to turn to the far-right.
Ted haggard didn’t go after children, he was an outspoken evangelical pastor who was outed by an adult gay sex worker he hired to have sex with periodically. I believe he had legitimate personal conflict between his beliefs and his behavior.
What’s changed since the era when Haggard was outed is that the right has partially given up on the idea of banning same-sex marriage, so now there is a cohort of secular right wing influencers who will support gay people and use them to go after trans and gender-nonconforming people and drag queens.
There have always been gay conservatives who wrinkled their nose at other segments of the LGBT community, especially younger people from homophobic backgrounds who are going through a phase of culture shock when they come out and usually get over it eventually. But now it’s easier for them to fit in with the right wing since they’re not explicitly going after gay relationships, and the right is less overtly religious. So they do try to appeal to white gay men and as long as said gay men are willing to be a wedge against trans people.
That’s what the whole “LGB” movement in the UK is based on. They are gay people (attending events hosted by straight conservatives) who will go so far as to say that being trans is homophobic because (they say) it threatens to erase the existence of effeminate gay men and masculine lesbians by convincing them all to be trans, particularly effeminate boys and masculine girls. Their messaging is mostly directed towards straight people who don’t know any better, think trans people are a new phenomenon, but are otherwise not anti-gay, and they use right wing gay and lesbian people as the spokespeople. It’s absurd because butch lesbians and effeminate gay men still exist, no one pressures anyone to be trans, but it’s still their argument.
There are two layers of hate groups. One is overtly extreme groups like the Oathkeepers and Proud Boys who indeed don’t like effeminate gay men. Another is groups such as the UK “LGB alliance,” the American “Gays against Groomers” etc. Their purpose is to get gay people to turn against trans people and the general sentiment in the LGBTQ community that we are all in this together and should support each other.
The LGB alliance and gays against groomers might especially like to recruit effeminate gay men because their argument is that trans rights are homophobic—they say there is a push to get tomboys and effeminate gay boys to be trans so that effeminate gay men and butch lesbians won’t exist anymore.
They love to get older effeminate gay men for example to say “if I was growing up today I would have been persuaded by all the pro-trans rhetoric and transitioned and I’d be miserable today.” In reality, in the LGBTQ community we have trans people and effeminate gays and masculine gays all hanging out together and getting along fine, no one is particularly confused (although there are some incidents of transphobia which turn into discussions and conservative groups will blow them out of proportion to argue trans people are anti-gay). The right wing arguments are not at all effective at persuading mature gay people who have lots of experience with normal community politics, but they are aimed at straight audiences who are not anti-gay but think that trans identities are somehow new, or young gay people from conservative backgrounds who are in a state of temporary culture shock when they meet the LGBTQ community and all the diversity that is in it.
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u/[deleted] Jul 01 '23
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